Surviving This World
by ehb1998yahoo.com
Summary: A mysterious virus has spread across the planet, infecting small amounts of people. The infected turn zombie-like and bite their victims, infecting them. The world is unsafe. The remaining survivors band together or stand alone and fight for their lives without electricity, government, and many other necessities.
1. Prologue

ANONYMOUS

I had pain, but I had no idea where it was coming from. I was too weak to open my eyes and see, so it remained a mystery for me until I braced myself and opened them slowly.

Several blurry silouhettes danced above me, silouhettes of faces, but I couldn't make out their features. Then my eyes focused and I recognized one. Michael.

I smiled and I said his name and reached up to his face.

"Go back to sleep, you need to rest." He said softly. I frowned, but sleep took hold of me anyways and I drifted away, the lingering pain still present in my dreams.

I realize now that I was hallucinating. I hadn't seen any of my friends, let alone Michael. Pain made me hallucinate if it was drastic enough.

After what seemed like days of rest, I awoke, and I didn't smile. The pain was worse than ever. I realized it was coming from my left leg, which was bleeding profusely. I gasped and my hand immediately went to it. It came back full of blood and I looked away and wiped it on my jeans.

I wasn't with anyone. I wasn't okay.

And I wasn't safe.


	2. Where To Go From Here, I Don't Know

CHER  
I wiped the sweat off my brow, crashing through the woods, all while fuming at my ignorant kid brother.  
"Cher!" He called, yards away. I smirked at him. He was so pathetic. He pranced around stupidly, relying on me as his damn protection.  
"Shut the hell up, we'll get killed." I said through clenched teeth.  
I turned, looking at my brother in his black ACDC sweatshirt, his black box hat tipped to the side, wide eyed.  
"What the fuck did I-"  
"Don't swear. And you know. You failed to tell me where Ally is. And now the strongest of our family is out looking for her because of your fucking lack of response." I raised my eyebrows at him, waiting for an answer.  
"Whatever. I'm going back home. I don't need you anyways."  
My jaw dropped. "No, you'll get killed before you reach the edge of the woods! And you definitely need me. I have the weapons and strength."  
He scoffed. "Oh really? Strength? Your basically skin and bones, a stick."  
I gritted my teeth, throwing my bookbag in the leaves and stepping forward.  
"You better watch it Nathan. I can have you in headlock, a gun cocked at your stupid hollow head in seconds." After I smirked, pleased with his shocked reaction, I turned on my heel.  
Nate, my kid brother, was the youngest of our family. He's fifteen. But he thinks he' s some sort of big shot, and he's pretty arrogant. He used to be a pretty nice kid, until high school.  
Ally is two years older, a quiet, sweet and sort of ditzy seventeen-year old. She and I have an awkward relationship, if I was still seventeen, yes, people would say we'd belong in the same clique, but not so much now. I'm tougher and much less shy.  
Jason is twenty. He's mature and smart and funny, and we pretty much always see eye to eye. He's had my back and I've always had his.  
I flinched thinking about him. My strong and brave brother, my favorite sibling, out there doing the dirty work and looking for our lost sister. She's probably sitting on a curb somewhere, unsure of where she is. This only made me angrier thinking about it.  
I let out a deep breath of relief, we had reached the edge of the woods, and I was still as a stone, scanning the clearing ahead. There was a road in the distance, and the rest was just surrounded by trees. A small stream was on the opposite side, across from the road, placed almost strategically by the woods.  
I motioned for Nate to come forward and follow me, and he hesitated before stomping annoyingly loud through the leaves behind me.  
"Shush you idiot!" I whispered sharply. My eyes were filled with rage, he just flushed red and apologized.  
I groaned and ran across the clearing, kneeling beside the stream. Nate ducked down and began scooping handfuls of water into his hands. I slapped his hand and he glared.  
"Don't drink that." I said.  
"Why?"  
I pointed to the dead walker laying half in the water, oozing small amounts of blood down the stream.  
Nate gagged and turned away. I stood up and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards a road.  
"We're gonna go find a car."  
He raised his eyebrows. "And do what with it?"  
I groaned again at his stupidity. "I don't know, drive it?"  
"I meant shouldn't we just hang around the area for awhile so Jason can find us?"  
He made a good point.  
"Good point brother. But we're gonna do a drive-by of our neighborhood, to see what's going on. Ally and Jason are probably around there anyways.  
He shrugged and I whipped out my gun, scanning the road for walkers. One was sticking its head in a car window, with its back towards us. I decided to let it go, it didn't see us. I peeked in the windows of each car I liked, there were so many of them, and I finally found one, a black Chevy, with a key in the ignition. I only hoped there was some gas.  
Nate hopped in the passenger's side glumly and I started the car, arousing the one walker on the road, and I shot it in the head before it could even think about coming over to us.  
Luckily, the tank was full, and Nate didn't yap the entire ride to out neighborhood. Our neighborhood was more like shit. Shitty houses, old roads with millions of potholes, scary neighbors, alcoholic dads, which reminds me…  
Nate's voice made me stop thinking about our alcoholic father for a moment. "Look."  
Two silouhettes ran along the side of one of our neighbor's houses, and I immediately parked and jumped out of the car, running towards the silouhettes.  
"Ally! Jason!" I somewhat yelled, not really caring if walkers heard.  
"Cher?" A hesitant Ally called, and I rounded the corner, hoping to find my brother and sister, only to find Ally standing next to a bush with a short guy I didn't know. He had longish brown hair, emo-looking hair, and blue eyes. Kind ones. He wore dark jeans and an Aerosmith t-shirt. He was probably in a band, I'd guessed.  
I furrowed my eyebrows. Nate halted beside me, panting.  
"Where's Jason?" I asked suspiciously.  
She looked genuinely surprised. "Jason? He was here?"  
"I don't know…he came looking for you."  
Concernedness overwhelmed her face. "Ah, dammit we need to go find him!"  
"Who's this?" I asked, pointing the guy.  
"Oh, this is Jordan. I found him down the street."  
I raised my eyebrows and he smiled.  
I turned and waved my hand, beckoning them, and Ally wouldn't stop bombarding me with stupid unneeded questions on the way to the car.  
"When did he leave? Where were you? What were you-"  
"Ally, shut the hell up, the real question is, where were you?"  
She opened her mouth to speak when Jordan surprisingly interrupted.  
"I think she was looking for someone named Jane. Right? You were calling her name."  
Ally looked down. I closed my eyes and laid my head on the steering wheel. "Jane?"  
"Yes." She said quietly from the back seat. I opened my eyes and Nate was shaking his head slightly, telling me silently to not ask anymore.  
Jane was Ally's best friend, she has cancer, or had it, I don't really know, and Ally thinks despite the fact she was nearing death already before the outbreak, she thought she'd find Jane alive. I'm a girl of faith but that just isn't logical. Unfortunately, it's survival of the fittest, and I think Jane was suffering anyways. She was a sweet girl, only sixteen, but it was her time to pass. If she is dead.  
The car ride was full of tension and awkward silence, and I just stared blankly at the road ahead, occasionally bumping over some potholes.  
Where do we go from here?


	3. I'll Let You Come, On One Condition

HAYLEY Being alone during a time like this is the most nerve wracking things ever. I also don't have any weapons or special skills, which just makes matters worse. I always hung around with guys, no girls, no one I could fully relate too. My mom didn't except this, just shut me out and went shopping for fluffy pink dresses with my younger sisters. My mother used to be my mom, MINE. Noone else's. It changed three years ago when she married Todd, and he already had his bratty little daughters, one being fifteen and the other thirteen. They never matured. I don't think they ever will. And I honestly could care less about me not being with them. To hell with them. I'd take a stranger over them any day. I'm not quite familiar with New York, I am from Tennessee, but I just moved her five months ago and I was so pissed when I did that all I did was shut myself in my crappy-ass basement bedroom and turn as pale as a ghost. I have no friends, my grades suck, and I have no social life what-so-ever. I used to have friends, good grades, and a social life but my mother, who picks her stepdaughters over me, took that all away from me. Because of my rage I dyed my hair bright red, got a nose ring, and a tattoo. Things she all hates. She already hates me, so we're good.

We are past the point now. I'm by myself in a dark alley, in a city I don't fucking know, and hunger is ripping at me and my immune system I swear is deteriorating. I need water. I need food. I need someone other than my immediate family to be with. Anyone. Something stirred down the left of the alley, making me instinctively jump and run to the right. I paused around the corner, peering down the alley. Faint moaning made me shiver, and I immediately knew it was a walker. The lifeless creature formerly known as a human being. I kept watching. After it got closer, I froze, looking at his face. It showed, almost, distress. "They don't look like that." I whispered. It was a guy, a skinny African American guy with an injured arm. He had curly black hair and big brown eyes. He was pretty damn attractive if you ask me. I watched him, until he sensed me looking and snapped his head up. I froze. "H-hello?" I asked apprehensively. He squinted and hobbled towards me. "Who are you?" "My name's Hayley. You?" He hesitated, glaring at me. "Michael….why were you watching me?" "I heard you a minute ago and thought you were a walker. I don't have any weapons though." He looked off into the distance. "No weapons?" He looked almost appalled. "Are you kidding me? How long have you been alone" "About t-two, um, two weeks." He raised his eyebrows. "Damn." I blurted before I could stop myself. "Could I come with you? Wherever you're going?" He groaned. "Um, fine whatever. Ouch!" His hand went to his arm.

"Oh! Let me help you!" He jerked his arm away. "Don't." I gulped. He didn't seem very nice. Was I making a mistake? "S-sorry." "Yeah, yeah, let's just go." He strolled past me. "On, second thought," I bit my lip nervously. "You need to help me find someone." "Deal." And there I was, following a strange guy down a dark alley, helping him find someone for him. What was I getting myself into?


	4. Regret It Or Really Regret It

CHRIS It's been seven days since Dad left to look for his brother. I've learned that if you go looking for something out in the wilderness by yourself now, you most likely won't come back.

"No! I don't wanna leave! Dad's gonna come back!" Joshua whined. Kayla comforted him by patting his back gently.

"Chris, we should wait a while. Really." She said, her green eyes darting between Josh and I.

I sighed. "Kayla, we can't our house could get overrun, and we need to find more food and supplies anyways."

"Overrun? Chris we haven't seen a walker for days, the street's deserted. And we have a ton of supplies you and Dad went to find." She tilted her head, making me turn to the pile of weapons on the floor. The food was all on the counter too, and I knew we had enough. But there was still that possibility of our house getting overrun.

"You haven't seen a walker for days? Well open your fuckin' eyes." Kayla looked shocked and overwhelmingly upset at this, and struggled as I grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the front door.

"Look. Look out the window." She shook her head. Josh sniffed on the couch. "Do it." I demanded. She needed to see. She cautiously peeked out the window, gasping and turning away.

"I didn't know there were-"

"That many? Yeah, I know. That's exactly why we need to leave." Kayla looked at me sadly and lifted our ten-year-old brother up, who cried, and carried him up the stairs consoling him. She stopped at the landing.

"We'll be down in a minute. We just need to pack." I gave her a short nod and began gathering the weapons and food, stuffing the stuff in Hefty bags and making short runs to my truck through the side door, narrowly avoiding walkers. Next I grabbed clothes and my toothbrush and toothpaste, and shoved them in my bookbag. Kayla stood outside of Josh's door, pacing and biting her nails.

"You okay?" It was a stupid question. But she managed a small smile.

"Yeah. Just a bit nervous, is all. I'll be back in a minute." She disappeared into her room and later came back with her pink duffel bag, and this time she also had Mom's gray Miami sweatshirt. I smiled sadly and averted my eyes to the logo. She looked down at the sweatshirt and smiled sadly back. Josh later came out, disgruntled and dragging his bookbag and blanket from his room. Kayla reached out a slender hand to him, trying to help him, but he whipped his body away from her, stomping down the stairs.

"Don't." Kayla warned, and I nodded. I pulled out my gun, ushering my siblings out to the car, locking them inside, and went in to grab the bags. I threw them hastily in the trunk, shaking with nervousness and worry, and started up the car. Josh pouted in the back seat while Kayla shot him concerning looks every once in awhile, and the ride was pretty quiet. Kayla didn't have much to say, just kept scanning the road and glancing at Josh.

After thirty minutes of me, admittedly, driving around nowhere, I spoke up. "Josh, you wanna talk?" I looked at him in the rearview mirror. He shook his head, looking curiously out the window. Kayla jumped in her seat.

"What is it?"

"Don't go down there." She pointed to a wide neighborhood with large houses and dozens of walkers meandering about. I turned the other way as she said, and thanked God for giving me such an observant sister. I parked in front of a hotel, and turned to Kayla.

"We're all gonna have to stay here for the night. I'll check the rooms for walkers. Do you wanna stay here or come with me with Josh?"

"We should come with you."

"Alrighty." I was either gonna regret this or really regret this.


	5. They'll Find Their Way

"Cher we aren't gonna find him." Ally said.  
"Yes we will." I snapped, smacking my hand on the steering wheel. Ally bit her lip nervously in the back seat, Jordan looking out the window. Nate was sleeping with his head on the dashboard. The car was parked in a dead-end road with no walkers around.  
"Wake up!" I yelled, and shoved my brother, who snapped his head up with red, baggy eyes, and an unpleased expression.  
"What the hell was that for?"  
"Don't sleep on the job, asshole."  
"What job?"  
"Helping me look for our fuckin' brother. Yeah, we're still doing that remember?"  
He looked equally perplexed as everyone else in the car except me, who was pissed no one seemed to fucking care about finding Jason.  
"Why don't we just stop looking for him? We won't find him. We don't need him anyways."  
"Excuse me?" I snapped. "We don't need him?"  
"Yeah. Just like we don't need you. You're both scrawny and probably can't kill one walker."  
That was it. "Fine, then if you don't need me, I'll leave." I opened the door and slipped out, while Ally fumbled with the handle and called my name.  
"No! Don't leave." She yelled.  
I looked back, glaring, as she climbed out through the front and ran towards me stupidly. I ran faster and she stopped, standing in the middle of the street.  
"Go. Get out of here." I demanded, and her eyed twinged with sadness as she edged back towards the car, watching me sadly as she climbed back in.  
I heard the door shut, and I assumed Ally got in the driver's side, when the car started and drove down a street to the left, leaving me in the dust, and to my relief, alone.  
I walked with my bookbag on my left shoulder, pistol in hand loaded, and a confident demeanor down the dirty street. Trash lay everywhere, a couple cars standing stock still next to the curb, and many of the small, old houses had boarded up windows, but no signs of life.  
After a few minutes of walking, I groaned when I heard a car pull up to me, making me walk faster. The car stopped, a door opened and slammed shut, and I heard the car drive off down the road behind me again.  
I heard footsteps behind me in the street and turned.  
I squinted quizzically at the short guy with long brown hair named Jordan, who smiled happily. I shook my head.  
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I demanded.  
"I asked myself the same thing getting out of that car. But I think it's pretty obvious."  
I stepped back slightly, folding my arms. "Obvious how?"  
"No offence, but I didn't want to risk getting killed with your brother and sister around. They don't seem to have the skills to survive in this type of world."  
I furrowed my brows for a moment. "Oh really?"  
"Yep. But I think they still might have a chance. I saw a couple people walking, not dead, down the road we were on a few minutes ago. They were going down that street. Hopefully, they keep going and meet up with that group."  
I half-smiled."Hm. Well Jordan, I think I can possibly try to like you. No promises, because if you do anything to piss me off, you better watch your back." I warned, gazing at my gun and pocket knife.  
To my surprise, he smiled wider and nodded, walking forward, and I resumed trekking down the street with this guy I didn't know, but a new attitude I hadn't had for a couple months. I had a little hope.


	6. Hurry Up, Sunshine

This guy, Michael, was not someone I'd become friends with under normal circumstances.

"Michael, we have no plan whatsoever." I said, plopping down on a park bench, not caring about the several walkers stumbling towards us about ten yards away. He crouched down in front of me, an angry look on his face.

"You better watch it sunshine. Now get your pretty ass up and skip down that street over there like a good girl." He said venomously, nodding his head towards a main road, filled with walkers. I gasped slightly, but he heard it and smirked.

I glowered. "And do what?"

"Grab that bag of guns right there. And by the way, don't ask questions." He said, pointing to a black sack of about a dozen guns laying haphazardly in the road, a couple walkers tripping over it every once in a while.

I gaped at him. I tried to protest but he cut me off. "Ah, ah, ah sunshine, we seemed to have forgotten the rule. Just right over there, grab it. Now." I almost asked another question when I clasped my hand over my mouth and sat up reluctantly off my seat, wiping sweat off my forehead and walking slowly across the grass, taking my, I mean Michael's shotgun, out of my bag and aiming it at the first walker, pulling the trigger. I missed, and the bullet bounced off a tin trash can, disturbing some of the other walkers and making them turn to me, making gargling sounds and reaching towards me.

"Shit." I said under my breath, and stopped, shakily turning to Michael, who looked extremely annoyed.

"Hurry up sunshine, we don't have all day!" I worked up adrenaline, and ran forward, shooting three walkers in the head. They fell, and I praised myself quietly, but it was still like a game. Since walkers were attracted by noise, even more walkers stumbled out from other streets, looking hungry and ready to feast. Ten feet from the bag of guns. I was moving slowly, and I could just picture Michael pacing around angrily, his head in his hands, cursing. I smiled and grabbed the bag, confident there weren't any walkers close enough to grab me, and I ran towards Michael, when I felt a clammy hand grab my wrist and pull me backward.

"Michael!" I screamed, summoning more walkers and fighting against this one, eager to bite me. I punched it in the jaw, making it moan and just pull me closer to its hungry mouth, when I felt another walker pull me backwards.

This is it, I'm gonna die, I thought giving up, when I saw the first walker being shot in the head by an arrow. I turned and saw a pretty African American girl with a crossbow standing right behind me with a young girl who had to have been thirteen.

"Hurry up next time, sunshine!" I turned and saw Michael running towards me, his pistol aimed at my head. I backed away, appalled by his behavior, when the girl with the crossbow, who apparently had pulled me from the walker, stepped forward and pointed her crossbow at his face, looking grim and unhappy.

"Lower your gun."

"You can't tell me what to do." He said, and gritted his teeth, getting close to the girl, who surprisingly recoiled and lowered her crossbow, and it surprised me because she seemed so brave moments before. "That's what I thought." Michael said darkly, lowering his gun and making me sigh from relief. The girl with the cross bow stood by the younger girl's side. She held out her hand to me.

"Janelle." She said.

"Hayley. This is Michael." I pointed to him, and he glared. I shook Janelle's hand.

"I'm Zoey." The younger girl said, shaking my hand. I smiled. She was cute, she had big eyes and nice teeth. She had long black hair with straight bangs, bangs I had a long time ago. "Nice to meet you," She said, smiling at me a little, but when she looked at Michael, he glared at her, and she looked off to the side. Janelle eyed the walkers noticing our presence down the street, and grabbed my arm.

"We should get going. I have a Jeep, if you two wanna come, you are welcome." She said quickly, and I considered this.

"Sure." I said, looking at Michael, who rolled his eyed irritably and brushed past me, bumping my shoulder.

"Where is it." It was more of a command than a question. Janelle smiled, tilting her head to the side.

"We'll lead you to it." Michael followed Zoey and Janelle with me trailing behind, on a vacant side street. "Hurry up sunshine." Michael said lazily, beckoning me over to him and the girls.

"Here we are." Janelle said, climbing into a black Jeep, and Zoey climbing in the back, before turning to me.

"You can sit in the front if you want." I nodded, but Michael climbed into the passenger's side, making me groan, and I just sat in the back next to a nervous Zoey, tapping her left index finger on her knee and humming to herself.

I smiled at her as Janelle speedily drove off, hitting about ten walkers carelessly with her car.


End file.
